Adoniram  JUDSON 

By  WM.  WISTER  HAMILTON 


“Is  it  pleasing  to  God?  ”  “  Is  it  pleasing  to 

God?  ”  Any  soul  will  have  a  safe  and  prosperous 
voyage,  if  the  quiet  power  which  holds  the  needle 
of  its  compass  true  be  the  devotion  of  a  heart  which 
invariably  asks  at  every  reckoning,  “Will  it  please 
Him?”  The  life  of  Adoniram  Judson  was  beset  by 
many  calms  and  many  adverse  currents  and  many 
storms,  but,  after  a  long  and  trying  voyage  on  an 
unexplored  sea,  this  Christian  Columbus  discovered 
for  American  Baptists  a  new  world,  and  planted  the 
banner  of  the  Cross  on  those  needy  and  hostile  shores 
so  successfully  that  after  thirty-two  years’  absence 
he  once  more  set  sail  for  his  native  land  with  a  ship 
of  glorious  cargo,  with  happy  passengers,  with 
bronzed  and  experienced  and  victorious  crew,  and 
with  an  open  door  in  the  Far  East  for  the  messengers 
of  salvation. 

^,^In  the  Baptist  church  building  in  Malden,  Mass., 
one  of  Boston’s  suburban  towns,  there  is  a  marble 
tablet,  on  which  have  been  inscribed  these  words: 

“  IN  MEMORIAM. 


REV.  ADONIRAM  JUDSON. 
Born  Aug.  9,  1788. 

Died  April  12,  1850. 

MALDEN,  HIS  BIRTHPLACE. 
THE  OCEAN,  HIS  SEPULCHRE. 
CONVERTED  BURMANS  AND 
THE  BURMAN  BIBLE 
HIS  MONUMENT. 

HIS  RECORD  IS  ON  HIGH.” 


2 


ADONIRAM  JUDSON 


In  the  New  England  environment  Adoniram 
Judson,  whose  father  was  a  Congregational  minis¬ 
ter,  began  a  hfe  which  was  to  be  one  of  the  instru¬ 
ments  in  God’s  hands  for  transforming  the  ideal 
of  Baptist  church  life  in  America,  and  the  centennial 
of  his  going  out  to  foreign  fields  promises  to  mark 
the  greatest  forward  step  which  these  same  churches 
have  taken  in  fulfilling  their  responsible  and  glo¬ 
rious  mission.  What  a  tribute  to  this  pioneer  of 
faith,  this  father  of  American  Baptist  missions,  it 
will  be  if  Southern  Baptists  who  enjoy  so  many 
comforts  and  so  many  luxuries,  will  contribute  the 
million  and  a  quarter  dollars,  to  the  cause  for  which 
the  Judsons  of  to-day  are  giving  their  lives,  and  for 
which  our  God  gave  His  only  begotten  Son, 

Since  this  is  to  be  an  “Annus  Mirabilis”  in  our 
history,  and  since  it  is  to  gather  in  part  about  the 
life,  the  faith,  the  work,  the  sacrifice  of  Adoniram 
Judson,  it  is  fitting  here  and  everywhere  that  we 
acquaint  ourselves  with  the  man  upon  whom  God 
so  definitely  and  wonderfully  laid  his  hand,  and 
whose  labors  have  been  so  abundantly  rewarded. 
Standing  out  clearly,  as  we  study  him,  are  certain 
characteristics  which  cause  us  to  say  of  him,  as  the 
angel  long  ago  prophesied  of  another  faithful  and 
fearless  pioneer,  “He  shall  be  great  in  the  sight  of 
the  Lord.” 

1.  He  was  a  man  of  unusual  culture.  His  birth 
and  childhood  marked  him  as  a  child  of  peculiar 
gifts  and  many  advantages.  His  home  was  one  of 
genuine  piety,  of  inflexible  integrity,  of  noble  as¬ 
pirations,  of  great  hopes.  Here  were  laid  deep 
those  foundations  upon  which  he  was  afterward 
to  build  so  stable  a  structure  in  those  far-away 
lands.  His  father,  from  the  first,  expected  the  boy 
to  become  a  great  man,  and  so  often  spoke  of  it 


ADONIRAM  JUDSON 


3 


that  in  his  early  years  Adoniram  was  filled  with 
worldly  ambition,  but  in  his  later  years  he  triumphed 
over  this  desire  and  gave  the  Cross  of  Christ  first 
place,  and  then,  in  his  mature  years,  had  added  unto 
him  all  these  things.  In  him  was  exemplified  the 
statement,  so  true,  that,  '‘if  a  man  can  sink  the 
desire  to  be  great  in  a  passion  for  doing  good,  then 
his  greatness  really  begins.” 

When  only  three  years  old  he  surprised  his  father 
by  reading  a  whole  chapter  in  the  Bible.  In  the 
grammar  school  he  was  so  proficient  in  languages 
that  he  was  nicknamed  “Virgil.”  At  fourteen 
years  he  entered  Providence  College,  now  Brown 
University,  and  at  the  age  of  nineteen  graduated 
with  the  highest  appointment  in  the  commencement 
exercises  as  valedictorian  of  his  class.  He  was  a. 
lover  of  books,  and  when  eleven  years  old  heard 
some  visitors  speak  of  a  new  exposition  of  the 
Apocalypse,  and  was  grieved  and  mortified  that 
the  great  man  in  the  neighborhood  refused  to  lend 
it  to  him.  He  was  gratified,  however,  when  his 
father  said,  “Not  lend  it  to  you!  I  wish  he  could 
understand  it  hah  as  well.  You  shall  have  books, 
Adoniram — just  as  many  as  you  can  read — and  I’ll 
go  to  Boston  for  them  myself.” 

This  ability  to  master  languages,  this  fondness 
for  literary  pursuits,  just  as  with  William  Carey 
could  have  been  turned  to  his  own  financial  ad¬ 
vantage  as  an  employee  of  the  Governments  where 
he  labored,  but,  instead  of  so  doing,  Judson  and 
Carey  dedicated  these  talents  to  the  King  of  Kings. 
In  translation  of  the  Scriptures,  in  the  preparation 
of  dictionaries,  in  the  production  of  Christian 
literature,  and  in  the  proclamation  of  the  Gospel, 
they  gave  these  gifts  their  greatest  glory. 


4 


ADONIRAM  JUDSON 


It  is  told  that  twenty  years  after  Adoniram 
Judson  reached  Burma  the  New  Testament  was 
translated  into  the  Burmese  tongue.  In  1824, 
when  war  was  waged  between  England  and  Burma, 
Mr.  Judson  was  thrown  into  prison,  and  Mrs. 
Judson  buried  the  precious  manuscript,  just  ready 
for  the  printer,  in  the  earth  beneath  their  house. 
But,  as  mold  was  gathering  upon  it,  on  account  of 
dampness,  caused  by  heavy  rains,  with  a  woman’s 
ready  wit,  she  sewed  the  treasure  inside  a  roll  of 
cotton,  put  on  a  cover,  and  took  it  to  the  jail  to  be 
used  by  Mr.  Judson  as  a  pillow. 

In  nine  months  he  was  transferred  to  the  inner 
prison,  where  five  pairs  of  fetters  were  put  upon  his 
ankles,  and  it  was  announced  that  he,  with  a  hun¬ 
dred  others,  fastened  to  a  bamboo  pole,  were  to  be 
killed  before  morning.  During  this  terrible  night 
much  prayer  ascended  for  the  precious  pillow.  It 
had  fallen  to  the  share  of  the  keeper  of  the  prison, 
but  Mrs.  Judson,  producing  a  better  one,  induced 
him  to  exchange. 

Mr.  Judson  was  not  killed,  but  hurried  away  to 
another  place,  and  again  the  pillow  was  his  com¬ 
panion.  But  one  of  the  jailers  untied  the  mat 
that  served  as  its  cover  and  threw  the  roll  of  cotton 
into  the  yard,  worthless.  Here  a  native  Christian, 
ignorant  of  its  value,  found  and  preserved  it  as  a 
relic  of  his  beloved  master,  and  with  him,  months 
afterward,  its  contents  were  discovered  intact. 
After  the  close  of  the  war  this  New  Testament  was 
printed,  and  in  1834  the  whole  Bible  was  trans¬ 
lated  into  the  Burmese  language — a  language 
pecuharly  difficult  on  account  of  its  construction 
and  curious  combinations. 

God  takes  care  of  His  Word.  Let  us  do  all  we 
can  to  furnish  it  to  people  of  every  land. 


ADONIRAM  JUDSON 


5 


2.  He  had  a  definite  experience  of  grace.  Like 
many  a  messenger  of  the  Cross,  he  did  his  first 
preaching  in  childhood.  His  sister  recalls  that 
when  he  was  only  four  years  old  he  would  gather 
the  children  from  the  neighborhood,  to  play  church. 
He  usually  did  the  preaching,  and  his  favorite  hymn 
was,  “Go  preach  My  gospel,  saith  the  Lord.”  He 
tells  in  his  diary  that  it  was  in  November,  1808, 
when  twenty  years  old,  “he  began  to  entertain  a 
hope  of  having  received  the  regenerating  influences 
of  the  Holy  Spirit.” 

At  fourteen  he  was  seriously  ill,  and,  while  sick, 
meditated  much  on  his  expected  greatness.  Even 
if  he  should  be  great,  as  the  world  counts  greatness, 
what  then?  Could  he  keep  his  honors  forever? 
He  compared  in  his  thought  “the  great  worldly 
divine,  toiling  for  the  same  perishable  objects  as 
his  other  favorites,  and  the  humble  minister  of  the 
Gospel,  laboring  only  to  please  God  and  benefit  his 
fellow-men,”  and  came  to  the  conclusion  that  the 
world  was  all  wrong  or  this  second  man  would  be 
its  hero  of  all  heroes.  During  his  college  life,  how¬ 
ever,  when  in  that  age  through  which  all  must  pass 
who  are  to  make  truth  personal  and  real,  he  un¬ 
fortunately  had  as  an  intimate  friend  one  who  had 
caught  the  contagion  of  French  infidelity.  This 
young  man  was  unusually  attractive  and  versatile 
and  amiable,  and  young  Judson  found  in  this  com¬ 
panion  so  many  similar  tastes  and  sympathies 
that  he  caught  the  subtle  infection,  from  which  he 
himself  later  recovered,  but  which  was  the  ruin 
of  his  friend. 

Just  here  comes  the  darkest  chapter  of  his  history. 
In  it  are  to  bo  found  the  restlessness  of  one  who  is 
seeking  to  discover  his  place  in  life,  the  wanderings 
of  an  ambitious  man  who  is  not  willing  for  God  to 


6 


ADONIRAM  JUDSON 


have  His  way  with  him,  the  excursion  into  sin  of  one 
who  is  endeavoring  to  drown  the  voice  of  the  highest 
calling,  the  natural  severity  of  a  father  who  knows 
the  folly  of  such  a  wayward  course,  and  the  distress 
and  prayers  and  expostulations  of  a  devoted  and 
godly  mother,  from  whose  pleadings  he  could  not 
escape  and  for  whose  tears  he  had  no  answer. 

He  became  “Mr.  Johnson”  and  attached  himself 
to  a  theatrical  com^pany,  partly  with  the  purpose 
of  knowing  better  how  to  write  the  plays  which  he 
had  planned.  He,  in  telling  this  to  a  fellow  prisoner 
in  Ava,  said,  “In  my  early  days  of  wildness  I  joined 
a  band  of  strolling  players.  We  lived  a  reckless, 
vagabond  life,  finding  lodgings  where  we  could, 
and  bilking  the  landlord  where  we  found  oppor¬ 
tunity — in  other  words,  running  up  a  score,  and 
then  decamping  without  paying  the  reckoning. 
Before  leaving  America,  when  the  enormity  of  this 
vicious  course  rested  with  a  depressing  weight  on 
my  mind,  I  made  a  second  tour  over  the  same 
ground,  carefully  making  amends  to  all  whom  I 
injured.” 

Young  Judson  was  pursuing  his  way  on  horse¬ 
back  from  Sheffield,  westward,  in  a  tour  which  he 
was  making,  and  came  once  more  upon  his  young 
infidel  student  friend,  who  was  still  to  have  a  place 
in  his  career.  Judson,  in  the  home  of  his  uncle, 
had  been  in  conversation  the  day  before  with  a 
young  man  whose  godly  sincerity  greatly  impressed 
him,  and  on  the  next  night  was  stopping  at  a  country 
inn.  The  only  room  left  was  one  next  door  to  a 
young  man  who  seemed  near  to  death  and  whose 
groans  he  heard  many  times  during  the  night.  He 
was  restless  and  wakeful  and  thoughtful,  and,  as  he 
heard  the  watchers  moving  about  in  the  room,  he 
wondered  if  the  stranger  was  prepared.  In  im- 


ADONIRAM  JUDSON 


7 


agination,  he  placed  himself  upon  this  bed  of  death 
and  thought  of  his  own  condition.  The  long  night 
was  gone  at  last,  and  he  went  in  search  of  the  land¬ 
lord,  to  ask  after  the  sick  man.  The  reply  was 
“He  is  dead.  Yes,  he  is  gone,  poor  fellow!”  “Do 
you  know  who  he  was  ?  ”  inquired  young  Judson. 
Imagine  his  surprise  at  the  answer  :  “O  yes;  it  was 
a  young  man  from  Providence  College — a  very  fine 

fellow^;  his  name  was  E - .  ”  Over  and  over 

came  the  words,  “Dead!  lost!  lost!”  The  shock 
turned  his  face  toward  home  and  his  heart  toward 
God. 

This  was  in  September,  1808,  and  in  October 
of  that  same  year  we  find  him  enrolled  as  a  student 
of  theology  at  Andover,  though  he  was  neither  a 
professed  Christian  nor  a  candidate  for  the  minis¬ 
try.  In  December  he  made  a  solemn  dedication 
of  himself  to  God,  but  did  not  join  the  Third  Con¬ 
gregational  Church,  in  Plymouth,  until  the  28th  of 
May,  1809.  His  conversion  meant  a  surrender 
to  the  ministry  and  it  also  brought  to  him  a  hfe  of 
joy  and  growth  and  service,  for  he  resolved  that  he 
would  avoid  everything  displeasing  to  God.  He 
modestly  says,  “I  have  some  hope  that  I  shall  be 
enabled  to  keep  this  in  mind,  in  whatever  I  do — 
Is  it  pleasing  to  God?  To  assist  my  memory,  I 
have  used  the  expedient  of  inscribing  it  on  several 
articles  which  frequently  meet  my  sight.  Is  it  not 
a  good  plan?  But,  after  all,  it  will  be  of  no  use, 
unless  I  resolve,  in  Divine  strength,  instantly  to 
obey  the  decision  of  conscience.”  He  says  much 
in  his  letters  about  being  happy  in  his  religious  life. 
He  speaks  of  how  many  cheat  themselves  of  real 
happiness  by  preferring  some  trifle  to  God,  and  of 
how  we  refuse  to  open  the  window-shutters  and  then 
complain  that  it  is  dark.  He  is  at  once  seized  with 


8 


ADONIRAM  JUDSON 


the  fact  that  a  life  once  spent  is  irrevocable,  and 
then  narrows  that  same  fact  down  to  each  day. 
Thus  he  began  his  Christian  journey  with  a  definite¬ 
ness  most  marked  and  in  a  direction  always  answer¬ 
ing  to  the  question,  “Will  it  please  God?” 

3.  He  was  held  by  firm  convictions.  About  the 
time  of  his  conversion  there  came  into  his  hands 
a  sermon  by  Dr.  Claudius  Buchanan,  who  had  been 
a  chaplain  for  the  British  East  India  Company. 
“The  Star  in  the  East”  was  its  title,  and  it  showed 
the  evidences  of  the  power  of  Christianity  in  the 
East.  This  was  the  spark  which  set  to  flame  his 
missionary  convictions  and  produced  the  heat 
through  which  his  life’s  purpose  found  its  mold. 
It  was  six  months  later  that  the  final  resolve  was 
made.  About  this  time,  also,  God’s  confirming 
providence  threw  into  that  side  of  the  scales  five 
other  young  men  of  like  purpose  and  consecration. 
The  Lord  was  bringing  together  widely-separated 
thinkers,  whom  He  had  raised  up  for  the  great  work 
of  evangelizing  the  heathen,  and  “when  a  man  is 
rocking  in  the  trough  of  the  sea  of  indecision,  it  is 
very  reassuring  to  have  his  interior  conviction 
matched  by  an  external  Providence.” 

Many  obstacles  and  many  temptations  presented 
themselves,  but  in  the  face  of  them  all  he  was  still 
held  true  by  his  firm  conviction.  He  was  offered 
a  tutor’s  appointment  in  Brown  University,  Dr. 
Griffin  desired  him  as  his  colleague  in  the  “largest 
church  in  Boston,  ”  the  ambitions  and  regrets  of  his 
immediate  family  stood  mountain  high  in  his  way, 
there  was  no  foreign  missionary  society  in  America 
to  w'hich  he  could  offer  his  services,  and  there  seemed 
little  prospect  of  any  English  society  being  wilhng 
to  accept  him.  The  appeal  which  Judson  and  Nott 
and  Mills  and  Newell  and  Rice  and  Richards  made 


ADONIRAM  JUDSON 


9 


was  soon  answered  by  the  Congregationalists,  and 
there  was  organized  the  American  Board  of  Com¬ 
missioners  for  Foreign  Missions.  This  was  in  1810, 
and  Carey  had  gone  to  India  in  1792. 

An  even  greater  test  as  to  his  loyalty  to  convic¬ 
tions  and  to  truth  came  after  he  and  his  young  wife 
had  left  America.  These  two,  together  with  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Newell,  had  set  sail  on  the  brig  “  Caravan,” 
on  the  19th  of  February,  1812,  bound  for  Calcutta, 
and  with  Captain  Heard  in  command.  Mr.  Judson 
expected  to  meet  the  eminent  English  Baptist 
missionaries  in  India,  and  he  thought  it  the  part 
of  wisdom  “to  arm  himself  beforehand  for  the 
encounter  with  these  formidable  champions.” 
Long  and  increasingly  anxious  became  the  dis¬ 
cussions  on  board  the  “  Caravan,”  for  they  both  were 
afraid  that  the  Baptists  were  right  and  that  they 
were  wrong.  After  landing  they  continued  their 
investigations,  and  were  finally  compelled,  from  a 
conviction  of  truth,  to  embrace  the  teaching  that 
faith  must  precede  baptism,  that  only  immersion 
is  baptism,  and  that,  if  baptism  is  a  symbol,  then  the 
form  is  of  great  importance.  They  tried  to  rest 
satisfied  in  their  old  sentiments,  but  were  finally 
baptized  in  the  Baptist  chapel  at  Calcutta,  on  the 
6th  of  September.  They  had  arrived  June  17th,  and 
had  let  no  one  know  of  their  heart-searching  and 
Bible  searching  struggle  until  they  asked  for 
baptism. 

It  is  hard  for  a  preacher  to  make  such  a  surrender 
to  his  conviction  here  in  his  own  land,  but  how 
much  more  so  must  it  have  been  when  there  had 
been  organized  a  society  for  his  support,  when  so 
much  had  been  said  and  done  for  the  work  which 
he  himself  had  launched,  when  his  own  people  had 
been  so  distressed  over  his  devotion  to  missions. 


10 


ADONIRAM  JUDSON 


■when  he  must  part  from  the  companions  who  had 
come  out  with  him,  when  he  must  turn  his  back 
on  the  only  support  which  he  had  in  view',  when 
he  must  turn  his  ship  on  a  new  course  because 
his  compass  needle  so  indicated,  when  the  Baptists, 
to  wdiom  his  convictions  led  him,  were  few  in  number, 
and  when  he  had  no  reason  to  believe  that  they 
-  w'ould  welcome  his  coming  into  their  ranks  or  rally 
to  his  support. 

4.  He  enjoyed  unusual  consecration.  Will  it 
please  God?  Then  it  will  be  a  pleasure  to  do  any¬ 
thing,  go  anywhere,  to  endure  any  privation,  to 
make  any  sacrifice.  Here  is  the  secret  of  his 
devotion  to  his  work  and  the  tenacity  with  which 
he  held  to  it  when  once  it  became  to  him  a  con¬ 
viction,  He  loved  the  work,  because  it  was  for  the 
Saviour  that  he  was  doing  it.  He  loved  the  heathen, 
and,  though  he  never  saw  a  ship  sail  for  America 
that  he  would  not  have  wished  to  be  aboard,  yet, 
because  of  his  devotion  to  Jesus,  one  room  in 
Rangoon  was  more  to  be  preferred  than  six  in 
Boston,  Every  opportunity  for  financial  gain 
or  for  earthly  preferment  was  refused,  and  even 
‘The  biggest  church  in  Boston”  could  not  tempt 
him  from  those  who  needed  him  most. 

This  same  consecration  was  his  stay  through  the 
trying  ordeals  of  the  years.  In  toils,  in  privations, 
in  disappointments,  in  bereavements,  in  imprison¬ 
ments,  in  every  conceivable  trial  which  could  come 
to  shake  the  loyalty  and  devotion  of  a  servant  of 
God,  his  definite  caU  to  God’s  service  on  the  foreign 
field  and  his  loyalty  to  conviction  held  his  ship 
as  do  great  anchors  within  the  veil. 

It  is  hardly  within  the  power  of  human  language 
to  describe  the  sufferings  of  body,  mind,  and  soul 
through  which  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Judson  passed  in 


ADONIRAM  JUDSON 


II 


these  awful  months  of  persecution  and  imprison¬ 
ment,  and  the  Christian  soul  marvels  that  human 
beings  could  ever  be  so  cruel  and  so  brutal  as  were 
these  for  whom  these  devoted  missionaries  were 
thus  giving  their  lives.  Even  the  description  of 
the  prisons  in  which  Mr.  Judson  was  incarcerated 
are  enough  to  sicken  the  heart,  and  the  anguish, 
the  sufferings,  the  self-sacrificing  devotion  of  Mrs. 
Judson  call  for  all  the  sympathy  and  admiration 
of  which  the  soul  is  capable.  While  he,  for  twenty- 
one  months,  was  enduring  the  squalid  prisons,  the 
galling  fetters,  the  benumbing  sameness  of  position, 
the  constant  expectation  of  death,  the  anguish  of 
unknown  cruelties  to  the  gentle  companion  of  his 
life,  she  was  threading  alone  the  hot  and  crowded 
streets,  was  exposed  to  insults  from  officials  who 
should  have  been  her  protectors,  was  pleading  for 
the  release  of  her  husband  with  such  pathetic 
earnestness  as  to  melt  to  tears  even  the  old  governor 
of  the  prison,  was  giving  birth  to  her  babe  during 
a  confinement  of  only  twenty  days,  was  carrying 
the  little  one  in  her  arms  to  that  filthy  den  of 
incarceration,  was  caring  for  the  native  children 
who  were  sick  with  small-pox,  and,  at  last,  was 
at  death’s  door  from  the  sarne  dread  disease,  which 
was  followed  by  the  dreaded  spotted  fever. 

After  the  English  soldiers,  under  General  Camp¬ 
bell,  had  brought  deliverance,  and  when  the  Bur¬ 
mese  commissioners  were  being  given  a  display  of 
English  splendor  and  wealth,  they  were  surprised 
at  seeing  the  great  General  give  Mrs.  Judson  the 
place  of  honor  at  the  feast.  He  noticed  their 
confusion,  and  said  to  Mrs.  Judson,  “I  fancy  these 
gentlemen  must  be  old  acquaintances  of  yours, 
and,  judging  from  their  appearance,  you  must  have 
treated  them  very  ill.”  When  questioned  by  Sir 


12 


ADONIRAM  JUDSON 


Archibald  about  one  in  particular,  who  seemed 
seized  with  an  ague  fit,  she  told  of  how  she  had 
walked  several  miles  to  this  man’s  house  to  ask 
a  favor,  and  when  her  husband  was  suffering  from 
fever  in  the  stifled  air  of  the  inner  prison  and  from 
the  galling  bondage  of  five  pairs  of  fetters  about 
his  ankles.  She  had  left  him  in  the  early  morning, 
but  was  kept  waiting  so  long  that  it  was  noon 
before  he  gave  his  rough  refusal.  As  she  turned 
disappointedly  away,  he  siezed  upon  the  silk  um¬ 
brella  which  she  carried,  and  would  not  even  fur¬ 
nish  her  a  paper  one  to  protect  her.  He  laughed 
at  her  fear  of  the  scorching  heat,  and  told  her  that 
the  sun  would  not  find  her,  that  only  heavy  people 
were  in  danger  of  a  sun-stroke. 

They  were  like  the  early  English  missionary, 
who,  when  driven  by  a  snow-storm  upon  the  coast 
of  Fife,  said,  ^^The  snow  closes  our  way  along  the 
shore,  the  storm  bars  our  way  over  the  sea,  but 
there  is  still  the  way  of  heaven  that  lies  open.” 
They  were  so  bound  to  heaven  by  that  “threefold 
cord”  of  “secret  prayer”  and  “self-denial”  and 
“doing  good,”  that  no  created  thing  could  separate 
them  from  the  love  of  God,  which  is  in  Christ 
Jesus,  our  Lord. 

5.  He  was  not  conquered  by  his  conquests. 

His  victories  did  not  spoil  him,  his  triumphs  did  not 
fill  him  with  pride,  the  honors  heaped  upon  him 
by  his  own  people  did  not  turn  his  head. 

On  board  ship,  when  at  last  he  visited  America, 
he  felt  considerable  anxiety  as  to  where  he  should 
find  a  home  in  Boston,  and  was  amazed  to  find 
homes  without  number  were  open  to  him,  that  he 
was  to  bear  the  pain  of  being  the  hero  of  great 
gatherings  throughout  the  land,  that  the  very 
sight  of  him  was  to  be  cherished  as  a  special  privilege. 


ADONIRAM  JUDSON 


13 


and  was  to  be  handed  down  from  generation  to 
generation  as  a  blessed  memory. 

No  one  except  a  man  of  conviction  and  conse¬ 
cration  could  go  on  for  more  than  seven  years 
without  a  convert,  and  still  have  it  said  of  him, 
'‘His  subhme  faith  in  God  never  faltered.”  Back 
of  every  sermon,  of  every  letter,  of  every  act,  lay 
the  reservoir  of  a  great  character.  Through  the 
power  of  Christ  he  was  master  of  himself,  of  his 
every  faculty.  He  had  no  desire  to  be  honored 
or  considered  great.  “He  often  remarked  that 
Christ  was  the  model  preacher,  and  that  he  never 
preached  great  sermons.”  So  intent  was  he  upon 
the  message  that  his  earnestness  of  manner  was 
most  impressive,  and  no  hearer  was  able  to  escape 
the  conviction  that  his  soul  was  in  his  work.  Dr. 
D.  W.  Faunce  tells  of  his  keen  disappointment  as 
a  boy  when  Judson  first  began  his  address  in  the 
old  church,  crowded  now  to  standing  room  to 
welcome  home  this  distinguished  son.  He  expected 
great  oratorical  flights,  loud  voice,  commanding 
tones  and  dramatic  positions,  and  resistless  elo¬ 
quence.  As  Mr.  Judson  went  on,  in  simple  lan¬ 
guage,  to  unfold  his  thought,  and  over  and  over 
again  repeated  his  one  theme,  pleasing  Jesus, 
somehow  the  boy  forgot  all  about  eloquence,  and 
began,  as  his  eyes  filled  with  tears,  and  his  heart 
was  in  his  throat,  to  ask  if  he,  too,  might  not  do 
something  to  please  Jesus. 

No  wonder,  then,  that  this  missionary,  whom 
Christ  had  so  conquered,  should  win  the  Burmans 
to  himself  and  to  his  Saviour.  He  was  such  a 
combination  of  the  ideal  and  the  concrete,  he  was 
so  great  that  Eastern  minds  were  no  match  for 
him  in  any  encounter,  and  yet  so  humble  as  to  be 
the  unfailing  friend  of  the  poorest  servant.  His 


14 


ADONIRAM  JUDSON 


first  tract  to  the  Burmans  caught  and  held  the 
attention  of  their  deepest  thinkers,  and  is  still 
worth  any  man’s  study,  and  yet,  in  a  private  talk 
with  a  native  Christian  woman,  he  made  truth  so 
simple  that  she  never  forgot  it.  He  seized  the 
ruler  from  the  table,  stood  it  on  the  floor,  and  said, 
“Here  you  stand.  You  know  where  this  path 
leads — you  only  want  to  step  aside  to  catch  the 
bubble,  and  you  think  you  will  come  back  again, 
but  you  never  will.  Woman,  think!  Dare  you 
deliberately  leave  this  straight  and  narrow  path, 
drawn  by  the  Saviour’s  finger,  and  go  away  for 
one  moment  into  that  of  your  enemy?  Will  you? 
Will  you?  WILL  YOU?”  She  was  sobbing  as  he 
spoke,  and  says  that  ever  after,  when  tempted,  she 
could  see  that  ruler  on  the  floor,  that  path  marked 
out  by  Christ,  and  could  hear  that  question,  “Will 
you?” 

No  wonder  that  on  board  one  ship,  as  he  con¬ 
ducted  worship,  the  big  tears  would  roll  down  the 
cheeks  of  his  sailor  auditors,  and  that  before  they 
landed  three  of  the  seamen  had  given  evidence  of 
salvation.  No  wonder  that  in  Burmah,  before 
his  death,  there  were  sixty-three  churches  and  163 
workers,  and  that  though  he  had  early  expressed 
the  hope  of  having  as  many  as  an  hundred  native 
converts,  there  were  about  7,000. 

The  victory  over  himself  through  Christ,  and 
the  conquest  of  Burmah,  through  Christ-like  living 
and  teaching  and  suffering,  made  easy  the  winning 
of  the  Baptists  and  of  all  Christians  everywhere 
who  have  ever  known  of  the  life  and  labors  of 
Adoniram  Judson.  To  him  all  was  as  bright  as 
the  promises  of  God.  Wherever  he  went,  at 
home  or  abroad,  he  was  as  sympathetic  as  if  he 
were  the  pastor,  and  as  interested  as  if  he  were  a 


ADONIRAM  JUDSON 


15 


member  of  the  family.  In  the  Colby  home,  in 
Boston,  at  the  family  altar,  he  prayed:  “May  they 
and  their  children,  and  their  children’s  children,  in 
every  generation  to  the  end  of  time,  follow  each 
other  in  uninterrupted  succession  through  the 
gates  of  glory.” 

A  New  York  merchant,  in  his  boyhood,  read  a 
“  Life  of  Judson,”  and  went  out  into  the  field  on  his 
father’s  farm,  and  dedicated  his  life  to  the  service 
of  God.  “Just  as  a  steamer  in  its  course  along  a 
river  generates  a  wave  which  will  lash  the  shore 
long  after  the  disturbing  force  has  passed,  so  the 
words  and  behavior  of  a  good  man  will  sometimes 
set  in  motion  streams  of  influence  in  the  most  un¬ 
looked-for  places.” 

This  Judson  Centennial  Year  of  1912  is  going  to 
mark  not  only  a  great  forward  movement  for 
Southern  Baptists,  and  an  enlargement  of  their 
gifts  to  the  work  of  missions,  but  it  is  going  to  mean 
the  dedication  of  many  a  young  life  to  God,  the 
strengthening  of  many  whose  doctrinal  knees  have 
been  weak,  and  the  call  for  some  real  sacrifice  by 
those  who  have  hitherto  never  been  stirred  by  the 
study  of  the  life  of  a  really  great  soul  devoted  to  God. 

Who  that  has  ever  looked  upon  Adoniram  Judson 
in  that  loathsome  prison,  who  that  has  ever  beheld 
his  ankles  weighted  and  bruised  with  those  five 
pairs  of  fetters,  who  that  has  ever  imagined  the 
anguish  of  his  gentle  soul  amid  such  injustice  and 
degradation  and  brutality,  who  that  ever  followed 
Mrs.  Judson  in  those  twenty-one  months  of  in¬ 
describable  anxiety  and  angelic  seK-sacrifice  and 
devotion,  who  that  ever  has  stood  and  wept  at 
the  lonely  grave  there  under  the  hopia-tree,  who 
that  ever  has  worked  and  waited,  and  believed,  and 
suffered,  and  wept,  and  rejoiced  with  the  Judsons, 


16 


ADONIRAM  JUDSON 


can  ever  again  be  mean,  and  little,  and  selfish,  and 
cowardly? 

There  is  only  one  course  for  those  of  us  who 
study  the  life  of  such  a  man;  there  is  only  one 
resolve  for  the  denomination  to  whom  God  so 
wonderfully  gave  him,  and  that  is  to  expect  great 
things  from  God,  and  attempt'  great  things  for 
God.  Enlarge  the  place  of  thy  tent,  O  Baptists 
of  America;  stretch  forth  the  curtains  of  thine 
habitations;  spare  not,  lengthen  thy  cords,  and 
strengthen  thy  stakes. 

Think  never  of  retreat  while  the  graves  of  our 
missionaries  adorn  the  lands  of  heathenism !  Think 
only  of  conquest  while  Christian  soldiers  are  ready 
to  five  or  die  for  the  King  of  kings!  Think  only  of 
asking,  whether  we  stay  or  go,  whether  we  work  or 
pray,  whether  we  give  or  withhold,  whether  we 
preach  or  practice,  “Will  it  please  Him?  Will  it 
please  Him?  WILL  IT  PLEASE  HIM  ?  » 


FOREIGN  MISSION  BOARD, 
SOUTHERN  Baptist  Convention 
RICHMOND,  VA. 


